The provision of routine and sustained global, regional and local information on the marine environment is not sufficient to meet society’s needs for describing, understanding and forecasting natural marine variability from days to decades, marine responses to climate change (e.g., ocean warming, acidification, and deoxygenation) and other human impacts (loss of biodiversity, pollution), sustainable management of living marine resources (fish stocks) and marine protection. In order to fulfill society’s mandate for ocean observations (e.g. OceanObs‘09, 2010), advanced concepts and routines have to be developed, tested and implemented to ensure sensors efficiently deliver the required information via simulated ocean models. Further the systematic design of global, regional and local ocean observation systems under scientific, technical, legal, and economic constraints need to be addressed.

Objectives

• ‘From Sensor to information’ addresses issues concerned with observation data processing toward specific projects, such as deep ocean heat content or virtual seafloor reconstruction.
• ‘Improving marine observation networks’ is concerned with system design to optimally meet various scientific requirements with regard to capability, logistical effort, costs and legal and political constraints.
• Integrated multidisciplinary ocean observations in small island states (e.g. Cape Verde)